Trending

Yeasayer's Anand Wilder Shares Blazing 'Break Line' Single

TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2014|

Posted by: Matt Howard

On July 15th, Yeasayer guitarist Anand Wilder and composer Maxwell Kardon will release Break Line, their musical that's been a decade in the making. We heard our first sample of their project back in May when it was announced along with the rootsy single "Wedding Day". And today, we are presented with an entirely different sonic template in "I'm to Blame".

The retro folk-styled "Wedding Day" seemed to match the rural 1950s-set plot, which they described as a labor conflict in a Pennsylvania coal town. But the latest single "I'm to Blame" has thrown our pastoral assumptions totally out of balance — but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I'm to Blame" opens solemnly with jazzy horns and the uncertainty of a distant organ, but it suddenly takes a sharp and sinister turn toward desert rock guitar fury and piano clank. The latter half is also complemented by a James Richardson (MGMT) guitar solo. This has quickly become one of our most highly-anticipated, under-the-radar releases of the summer.

Break Line The Musical is due out July 15th on Secretly Canadian. The album will also feature guest appearances by Kishi Bashi, Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Ryan Kattner (Man Man), Haley Dekle (Dirty Projectors), Chris Keating and Ira Wolf Tuton (Yeasayer), and others.